Venango County was created on March 12, 1800 from parts of Allegheny and Lycoming Counties. Its “Venango” comes from an approximation of the Native American name of the region, Onenge, meaning Otter. Oil is pulled from the ground and written all over Venango County. Yale University Chemistry professor George Bissell, and Edwin L. Drake, a former railroad conductor, made the first successful use of a drilling rig on August 28, 1859 near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Although the town of Titusville is in Crawford County, the first oil well was drilled outside of town, less than a mile inside of the Venango County boundary, giving Venango County bragging rights.

Ida Tarbell’s (1857-1944) father made wooden barrels for oil and later became an oil producer and refiner. The family settled outside of Titusville about a mile inside Venango County. As a journalist Tarbell exposed unfair practices of the Standard Oil Company, leading to a U.S. Supreme Court decision to break its monopoly. The county seat is Franklin. The Oil Creek and Allegheny River meet just above Oil City. Once a center for a railroad and river based transportation, Oil City is now hoping to create a future in which it will capitalize on arts and tourism.